LOS ANGELES — This could’ve been a beautiful dissection.

The team’s young right-handed starter largely shined against the back-to-back champs. The franchise cornerstone finally hit his first home run of the season at a critical time. The bottom of the lineup orchestrated arguably their singular best inning of the year to date against one of baseball’s best closers.

The Rangers lost 8-7 against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodgers Stadium Friday Night on a walk-off home run hit by third baseman Max Muncy. The Keller native had already homered twice, but his third, against left-hander Jacob Latz with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, capped a night in which a confluence of events and mistakes outweighed legitimate in-game successes.

“The pitch clock was at one [second] and I kind of just rushed myself,” said Latz, who struck out the first two batters he’d faced in the ninth, and who’d held hitters to an 0-for-30 line before he hung Muncy a slider. “In hindsight I probably would’ve rather taken the ball and reset and kind of gone through my process again before just going out there and trying to throw a pitch.”

They needed Latz because:The Rangers executed a top-of-the-ninth inning rally started by designated hitter Joc Pederson. He successfully challenged a called strike three thrown by right-hander Edwin Diaz and singled into right field on the next pitch. Center fielder Evan Carter, in the next at bat, pulled a four-seam fastball into the right field seats for a two-run home run that cut the deficit to one.

Third baseman Josh Jung singled with two outs and was replaced by pinch runner Sam Haggerty. He stole second base, and after the Dodgers intentionally walked right fielder Brandon Nimmo, left fielder Ezequiel Duran hit a first-pitch slider that scored pinch runner Sam Haggerty from second base and tied the game.

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Duran was in the two-hole because left fielder Wyatt Langford exited in the sixth inning with right quad tightness. He felt it when he hit his first home run of the season off of right-hander Tyler Glasnow the inning prior, and while the 24-year-old believes it’s minor, he’ll undergo scans Saturday morning to determine the severity.

“The whole ninth inning was impressive,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “We utilized our bench. [Haggerty] has a big stolen base, Duran comes off the bench cold and provides an unbelievable at-bat against one of the top closers in the game. Evan Carter, really good swing in the ninth. Joc Pederson comes off the bench and gets a hit. Our bench did an unbelievable job.”

They had to rally because: The Rangers blew a two-run lead in the sixth inning (and allowed two more in the eighth when center fielder Andy Pages hit a two-run home run off of right-hander Luis Curvelo) to create the need for a late-game rally.

Left-hander Robert Garcia replaced right-hander Kumar Rocker — who allowed the first two Muncy home runs but otherwise handled the tricky top-half of the Los Angeles lineup with poise — after five innings. The Rangers inserted him into a pocket of left-handed hitters, which should provide Garcia an advantage, but he walked first baseman Freddie Freeman, allowed a single to right fielder Teoscar Hernandez and sacrificed the lead on a two-run Pages double. Garcia fell behind four of the six batters that he faced.

Garcia has a 8.13 ERA in high-leverage situations for his career, but in the first game of a nine-game road trip without any days off, the Rangers needed to be creative about how they used their bullpen.

“That wasn’t myself,” Garcia said. “I’m usually a guy that — obviously you can go back and look at the numbers — with a very high first-pitch strike rating, very good at getting to two strikes, good at putting guys away. Didn’t do that today.”

The third pitch that Garcia threw to Pages nicked the bottom of the strike zone. Neither Garcia nor catcher Danny Jansen challenged it, and while it was a borderline call, it would’ve changed a 2-1 at-bat into a 1-2 at bat. The Rangers have challenged a league-low three calls while in the field this season.

“We’ve encouraged them to do it, we want them to do it more often,” Schumaker said. “If they didn’t feel like it was a strike, then they’re not going to challenge, and that’s okay. If they challenge it and get it wrong, that’s okay too. We’ve been trying to encourage them as much as we can to use it.”

It was a high-leverage spot because: Rocker and the club’s offense (specifically a three-run home run from shortstop Corey Seager in the second inning) went toe-to-toe with the Dodgers and placed the Rangers into a position to win. The 26-year-old allowed two home runs to Muncy through four innings but held the lineup’s top four hitters — Ohtani, right fielder Kyle Tucker, catcher Will Smith and Freeman — to an 0 for 8 line and four strikeouts before the fifth.

Corey Seager UNLOADS on this one at his old stomping grounds in LA for a 3-run shot!💥🤩(via @Rangers | #AllForTX)pic.twitter.com/qZzPTV6QJs

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He allowed one run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly from second baseman Hyeseong Kim but got Smith to ground into a double play with the bases loaded to end it and preserve a one-run lead.

“That was a big inning to finish,” Rocker said, “to save the bullpen and put the team in a decent position to finish.”